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In the Spirit of Bret Harte

The Defense Department must stop arming local police

“The militarization of local police departments threatens our civil liberties and puts all Americans, especially African-Americans and Latinos, at increased risk of being killed or injured by law enforcement. Suspend the 1033 military equipment distribution program and stop providing weapons designed for war to local law enforcement agencies.”

The Defense Department must stop arming local police

Ferguson, Missouri looked like a war zone last month as police in combat gear and mine resistant vehicles violently confronted thousands of civilians for protesting the killing of unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown by a local police officer.

The killing of Michael Brown was not an isolated incident. And the longstanding and unacceptable pattern of African-American and Latino men being racially profiled and killed by law enforcement has been exacerbated in recent years by the militarization of local law enforcement agencies nationwide.

Police militarization has been fueled by the Department of Defense, which has provided billions of dollars worth of tanks, grenade launchers and other weapons to local law enforcement agencies — including more than 93,000 machine guns.1 Secretary of Defense Hagel has the authority to suspend the program at any time,2 but he’s not going to do it unless we demand it.

Under the Defense Department’s 1033 program — which was implemented in the 1990s under the guise of fighting the war on drugs — the Defense Department has distributed an astonishing array of equipment to state and local agencies, from machine guns, grenade launchers and bazookas to armored personnel carriers, tanks and helicopters.3

Some of that equipment has ended up in extremely dangerous hands. Maricopa County Arizona, home of radical anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio, has received a tank with a belt-fed, 360-degree rotating machine gun turret through the program.4

But even in relatively responsible hands, the 1033 program makes Americans less safe. As the ACLU explained in a recent report, providing military style equipment to local agencies encourages law enforcement officials to adopt a “warrior” mentality and view Americans as enemies, rather than viewing them as the people they are supposed to protect and serve.5

EPD’s very own MRAP (or as we here at the Examiner like to call it EPD’s “Military & Recreational Assault & Partywagon”)

American neighborhoods are not combat zones, and law enforcement officials shouldn’t be using the weaponry or tactics of armed combat to fight crime. But by providing local law enforcement officials with military-style equipment, the Department of Defense is fueling a dangerous trend that puts the civil liberties and livelihoods of Americans, especially African-Americans and Latinos, at risk.

The hyper-militarized and clearly disproportionate police response to largely peaceful protests in Ferguson last month brought police militarization into the national spotlight, giving us a rare window of opportunity in which reform is possible.

9 thoughts on “The Defense Department must stop arming local police”

They now have the weapons. And they extensively recruit from the ranks of ex combat soldiers who are experienced in using them. What good is likely to result from that?

Ex soldiers should be given extra consideration in re integrating into society, But preferentially shunting them into security and ‘use of force’ occupations is a disservice to the nation. Before segueing them into becoming cops, lets first ensure they earn academic college degrees or certified vocational training in technical, service, or health related fields.

BTW, for those interested in the subject of police militarization: Radley Balko, formerly of Reason and(?) Cato Institute, has been covering the subject (along with criminal justice issues) long before recent mainstream concerns. He wrote a book, Rise of the Warrior Cop, that may be of interest to some.http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Warrior-Cop-Militarization-Americas/dp/1610392116
He used to do my favorite blog The Agitator until he got some money making gigs elsewhere. Shame. Now he’s kinda behind a paywall at the Washington Post. I’m not sure how many free views you get so I visit his new digs sparingly.http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/radley-balko
I believe you can see his list of posts for free, but have to pay after visiting the links a certain number of times.

Left unsaid is that the billions of dollars in taxpayer money (and debt) for this military surplus is welfare for the military industry which would be better spent in direct community funding of education and other anti-poverty programs which not only reduce crime and prison costs, but create better communities with more taxpayers and lower welfare program costs. Free education limited only by the students’ abilities would reimburse the government exponentially in increased taxes paid over a lifetime of higher earnings. The biggest waste we have in this country is human potential.